Yard MD: Heirloom plants: Old favorites find their place in today's modern landscapes

Apr. 25, 2013

Heirloom varieties of perennial phlox are wonderful to mass in the garden, attracting not only butterflies but hummingbirds and other songbirds as well. / Rob Zimmer/Post-Crescent Media

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Heirloom plants, especially flowers and vegetables, are finding their place in today’s massive, industrialized world of agriculture and gardening, giving home gardeners the chance to explore the colors, textures and flavors of these old-fashioned favorites like never before.

Beware, however, not to be taken in by clever marketing ploys and sales tactics when it comes to finding true heirlooms. Like the term “organic,” “heirloom” is a word being used with increasing frequency in the world of gardening, with its original definition being gradually watered down and loosened.

Traditionally, an heirloom plant is just that, an heirloom passed down between family members or generations of friends and fellow garden companions. As seed companies began to catch on to the trend, they began throwing the name around almost recklessly.

Most garden experts agree that an heirloom is an open pollinated flower, fruit or vegetable that was originated generally before the age of hybridized plants skyrocketed in the 1950s. Depending on who you speak to, an heirloom must be at least 40, 50 or 100 years old to meet this criteria.

Before agriculture became big business and industrialized, gardeners grew a much larger array of food crops in backyard garden plots and family farms. This style of gardening to feed ourselves was lost as modern agricultural practices focused on easy-to-grow, high-yield, mono-cultural food plots that left little room for the traditional, beloved heirlooms of yesteryear.

Heirloom vegetables, especially, are thought to have better, richer flavors and more intense colors than their hybridized cousins of today. For this reason, gardening with heirloom vegetables, as well as purchasing them at local farm markets, has become a favorite pastime for many residents across Wisconsin.

Annual heirloom sale

The Gardens of the Fox Cities in Appleton will hold its annual heirloom plant sale on May 11. The popular event features a tremendous selection of traditional and heirloom plants, including flowers, herbs and a variety of vegetables. Visit the sale to enjoy more than 50 varieties of tomatoes, 20 varieties of heirloom peppers, as well as antique beans, broccoli, melons, lettuce, pumpkins and more.

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The sale event, which will take place at the Gardens, located in Memorial Park, will run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. All plants are $3 each unless otherwise marked.

Featuring both vegetables and flowers, the annual heirloom plant sale is a popular event for area gardeners.

This year’s sale will feature some classic heirloom flowers. Scarlet flax, with its beautiful, ruby red blooms on airy stems, is a gorgeous plant. Treasured varieties of cosmos, nicotania, nasturtiums, phlox, lupine, love in a mist, morning glories and sunflowers also will be featured.

More than 20 varieties of heirloom peppers will be available. A look at this year’s lineup includes Habanero Peach, Chinese Five Color, King of the North, Pasilla Bajo, Mustard Habanero, Purple Beauty, Sheepnose Pimento, Thai Hot and Sweet Chocolate.

Petals of the past

Some of the most treasured garden flowers that we include in our quiet places are the plants that were handed down to us from our childhood, or varieties that spark memories of gardening parents or grandparents.

Many times these plants are long forgotten, until a trip to a public garden or seed aisle rekindles that magical memory.

Columbines are a longtime favorite heirloom, with many of the most nostalgic varieties making a comeback as seed companies begin to return to the past for many of their new offerings. Most garden centers and seed catalog companies now feature classic older columbines to complement the newest, giant hybrids.

Sunflowers, similarly, along with hollyhocks, are classic floral heirlooms, in their oldest, simplest forms.

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Many heirloom flowers are traditional favorites often grown as bedding annuals. These include love in a mist, sweet peas, zinnias, cockscomb, amarathus (also known as love lies bleeding), calendula and classic marigolds.

Tomatoes through time

Among the most popular and sought after heirlooms by area gardeners are varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

Like most heirloom plants, the treasured past of antique tomatoes is fast fading in today’s world of fewer and fewer hybrids, mass-grown for efficiency but sacrificing the flavor, quality and nutritional content of the tried and true.

Over the past several decades, we have lost many of our ancestors’ favorite heirloom varieties, along with the growers and small farms that carried them on through the generations. Plants that were grown and that had adapted well and survived for hundreds of years were lost or replaced by giant, watered down versions that could be grown cheaply and easily.

Thankfully, heirloom tomatoes are popular, and a multitude of resources are available to help you find them online and at local garden centers, garden clubs and special events.

Classic heirloom tomatoes, such as Yellow Pear, Black Cherry, Pearly Pink and Purple Russian, are still fairly easy to find at many local garden centers.

Yellow pear is the most common miniature heirloom tomato, a beautiful, sweet tomato used in many dishes and as a garnish or in drinks. Black Cherry tomatoes are small, dark and flavorful, with deep purplish colored fruits and a great flavor. Pearly Pink is a prolific plant that features small to medium sized fruits that ripen to a blush of pink. The long, purple tomatoes produced by Purple Russian are a colorful addition to salads, sandwiches and platters.